Educator

Explain Effects of fitness and lifestyle.

Strength is needed by a sport performer to give them a possible advantage over their opponents and therefore in some way exert a higher force than their opponent. There is less which can pose as a resistance them. The effect this has is that the performer can put more force if they have more strength than what they are facing and are more likely to be successful.

Endurance means a performer will be able to last longer whilst using their muscles. They can take more stress and pain and can continue with sport for a longer period of time because the body is accustomed to doing activities for that long.

Speed means that participants can do things faster giving them an edge over their opponents if they are faster. If a participant has speed, they can run faster than their opponent, or return a serve in badminton or tennis quickly.

Flexibility is how far a performer can reach or bend. Good flexibility means that a participant can more easily perform actions in sport because they can reach further and has a reduced risk of incurring injury.

Body Composition – for sports people, a high fat mass can lead to a reduced muscle mass and reduced performance and efficiency of skeletal muscles because more energy is required to move a bigger mass and so they will get tired faster.

The more Power a participant has, the more force they can put behind an action meaning that they can get more of a desired result because there will be a reduced resistance to the action or object they put force into. There is les chance of it being stopped.

A good Balance makes it easy for performer to easily change their centre of gravity without falling and this means they can be more successful in sport because they can take a firmer stand on the ground or perform other actions, like changing direction without falling.

Agility is how quickly a performer can change the direction of their whole body and having good agility results in the performer being able to dodge obstacles or opponents much easily and they will have a greater speed in sport if they can change their direction if so required, before an opponent can.

A good reaction time will allow a performer to start an action before an opponent can. For example, a good reaction time is needed by a sprinter so they get a good start and be off before other opponents.

Co–Ordination allows for a more effective use of body parts and using them all to get a desired effect.

 

Work Demands:

Your work requirements could affect and influence your sports performance both positively and negatively:

·       Heavy Lifting at work would increase muscle size and strength giving you extra force in sports where it is needed. This will increase sports performance in sports where muscle strength and muscle endurance is required.

 

·       Heavy lifting could drain you of energy reducing your sports performance because exhaustion easily sets in.

 

·       Office work in which there is little or no active muscle usage can be beneficial and hindering. The lack of usage could lead to cramp if not stretched and warmed up properly. The little usage could rest muscles and allow sufficient healing and growing time ready for vigorous sport activities.

 

·       Much activity at work can limit sports performance because you will be tired and muscles will be experiencing fatigue. This may also lead to over usage and loading.

 

Sleep

Sleep contributes to the reasons why sports performers are performing better and on a higher level now than in time past. Sports performers now have more knowledge and understanding of the beneficiary effect of copious sleep. They also now know that sleep deficiency will not enable you to perform as you should:

·        If you do not sleep for an appropriate amount of time, it will most certainly cause you to become tired and lethargic. You will be unable to concentrate, and this in turn could lead to you not paying attention to the rules. If rules are not followed, people get injured.

 

·       Tiredness makes your reaction time much slower which may result in injuries because of the inability of being able to respond quickly to stimuli.

 

·       Reduced sleep will make you recover less quick than usual and can diminish your performance as you need at least a minimum of eight hours of sleep.

·       Illnesses can be caused by not having enough sleep and then result in reduction of participation in sport. This will decrease your performance as you will lose valuable experience time.

 

·       If you have an insubstantial amount of sleep, your body will have reduced recovery time which can also result in more injuries when participating in sport and of course, decreased performances.

 

 

Drugs

 

Drugs may have a short term beneficial effect on sports performance. Besides being illegal and unfair, drugs have negative long term effects which deteriorate sports performance:

 

·       Painkillers (Narcotic Analgesics), drugs like Paracetamol, Heroin, Morphine, all of which are opiates, hide and mask pain during endurance sports. E.g. boxing. This temporarily enhances performance because the participant can continue for longer giving them an unfair advantage. The downside of these drugs is that they cause sedation and slowness in thinking, and constipation, which can be severe and badly affect sports participation. They over time increase pain, so your injuries are worse than they should have been.

 

·       Anabolic steroids allow sports performers to train for longer and it helps you to build muscle bulk. Sports performance is affected the following illnesses caused by these drug; high blood pressure, heart attacks, enlargement of the hearts left ventricle, aggression, mania, and delusion.

 

·       Diuretics and beta blockers help you to lose weight and lose water through your urine and can be used as a masking agent to mask up pain which is why some boxers use it illegally to mask pain or to lose weight by gymnastics. They affect sports performance in that they cause muscle pain, skin rash, and digestive problems and so nutrients needed for sports participation cannot be absorbed.

 

 

 

Alcohol:

 

When drinking alcohol before and after taking part in sports, it can cause a number of effects during sports performances and long term effects which decreases sports performances:

 

·       Alcohol can result in Liver damage which can eventually advance into liver cancer. The pain caused and the bodily functions carried out by the liver, if impaired will most certainly badly affect sports performance.

 

·       You will be short of breath faster because alcohol reduces the rate at which your body works. Sports participation will than have to be carried out for a shorter amount of time. This means that the person’s sports experience will be reduced.

 

·       Alcohol introduces fatigue and brings your reaction time considerably down. This can then increase the risk of injury to you or other sport participants. Fatigue and injury both reduce sports performance.

 

·       If you play while influenced under alcohol it can cause you to harm other sports performers. This will affect sports participation as you will not be allowed to take part.

Filed under: Preparation for Sport